Hello, first off, thanks for all of the love for this fic! Like, I didn't expect this to blow up practically overnight, so thank you! It means so much to me! Second, I am a particular writer, aka, I only write when my brain decides to, so I don't know how often I'll update this fic, but I'm definitely continuing it! Anyways, enjoy!


Marcy looked at the small pink frog in front of her, and resisted the urge to interrogate him. Focus, Marcy! She scolded herself as she fought her inner, well, nerd. She had been living out in this forest by herself for at least a few weeks, possibly more. And she had only just discovered that there were talking frogs nearby! She had discovered this when she found a frog in the forest, and tried to ask him for directions, but he ran away screaming. She had felt bad about that, so she decided to try and find wherever the frogs lived herself, and that's when she found that she was being followed.

The pink frog stared up at her with wide eyes. "The beast!" He cried out in fear, pointing at her.

"Stop following me." Marcy stated, trying to look scary-ish. She really wanted to ask him all of these burning questions she had in her mind, but she had a feeling that he probably wouldn't find that as much fun as she would.

"I have bad news for you, beast! I taste terrible!" He stated determinedly.

"Ew, I'm not going to eat you," Marcy replied, putting down the spear she had fashioned out of a tree branch. "But you tried to eat Wally," the pink frog countered.

"Wally? Is that his name? Is his eye really gone? Was he holding an accordion?" She shut her mouth before she asked any more questions. She didn't want to antagonise the small frog.

"Well, "Wally" ran off screaming the moment he saw me," Marcy explained. But just then, she heard a large roaring and rumbling sound coming from the bushes and trees behind her, and she jumped, startled. "It's coming back!" Marcy bolted, nearly tripping over in the process, but trying to get away as fast as possible.

But then…

She turned back and saw the small, pink frog's attempts at freeing himself, and felt a wave of guilt and pity. I can't just leave him there, right?

Battling with her thoughts, one side won. She ran back, slicing through the rope keeping him up in the trap, grabbed him and dragged him into an overturned log. They sat in silence for a few seconds as the rumbling passed over their heads and the mantis walked away. "You…you saved me," the small frog said in awe after a few seconds of silence.

"You're not a beast at all, you're a hero! An ugly, ugly, ugly hero!"

"Call me ugly again and I might eat you," Marcy said, smiling at him.

"Ha! You're not gonna eat me," the frog said cheerfully. "Got a name, stranger?"

"My name's Marcy. Marcy Wu."

"I'm Sprig Planter." He put out his hand and Marcy cautiously shook it. Her stomach growled and looked at the frog. "So Sprig, got anything to eat?"

"Sure do!" He pulled back the log and revealed a whole group of crawling bugs. Marcy would have jumped at a new opportunity to try something new, but her human stomach probably wanted something with less legs right now. "Anything that's not bugs?" She tried hopefully.

"No bugs, eh?" He ate a few bugs and gestured for her to follow him. Marcy followed him, but then stopped in her tracks. She had survived out here for a while, and she had learnt that you shouldn't trust the first thing that talks to you. "How do I know I can trust you?" She asked cautiously. He turned around.

"What? Does this look like a face that could deceive you?"

And he gave her the most adorable look, blinking for effect. "Aww," Marcy said, despite herself. "I guess not. Lead the way, Sprig!" She stepped forwards, and tripped on a root and fell flat on her face. "I'm okay."


Sasha banged her fists onto the table with pure anger. "Argh! How are you so good at this?!" Andrias laughed and moved his piece over to Sasha's frog, the "king" of Flipwart. "Boom!" Andrias cried in happiness. "Another victory for me!" Sasha groaned in annoyance.

They had played eleven games of this frog-ified version of chess, and guess, go on guess, how many Sasha had won. None. She had never been good at chess to begin with, and Flipwart was ten times harder!

"Want to play again?" Andrias asked, grinning at Sasha, clearly enjoying himself.

"No! Please, no!" Sasha started to beg. The door to the throne room suddenly opened and Sasha gave a silent thanks to whoever had decided to interrupt their session of Flipwart. Olivia was standing there, and moved to the side to introduce someone. "Ahem," she cleared her throat. "Your Majesty, General Yunnan, here to give the weekly report." Sasha looked at the newt who entered, and immediately gained interest.

She was a pink-coloured newt, covered in head to toe in amour and weapons. "Wow!" Sasha said, not being able to stop herself. "Who are you?" She could tell that Oliva wasn't pleased with her interruption, but Sasha could care less.

"You haven't heard of me?" General Yunnan asked curiously. "Well, I am General Yunnan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the great Newtopian Army!"

Sasha's eyes widened. How could someone have all of those titles? It was awe in which Sasha looked at the newt. She watched as she gave a report to Andrias, and as Yunnan turned away to leave, Sasha cried out, "Wait!" The general stopped, and looked at her.

"Can I help you?" Sasha looked desperately at Andrias and Oliva. Apparently her awe hadn't been very secretive, as Andrias gave her an encouraging nod, while Olivia gave her a look that told her to leave the newt alone. "Can I hang out with you?" The newt tilted her head. ""Hang out"?"

"Yeah, talk, train, maybe?" The newt gave a small smile. "Really? No one's ever wanted to be with me, except for taking me out on a battlefield!" She gave a grin as she dramatically said that last bit. Then, glancing at the king quickly, she turned back to Sasha. "Sure. But be careful. Don't want to accidently decapitate you, that's all."

Sasha gave a small, slightly regretful smile at her, but knew that this would be much more fun than being beaten at chess by a giant newt.


Anne sighed. "What were you doing outside Toad Tower?" The toad in front of her demanded.

"I wasn't there on purpose," Anne tried to reason with him. "I've told you, over and over again, for the past two hours, that I have no idea where I am, or who you guys are!" Grime growled at her, and Anne shrunk in her seat. The seat being the prison cell she was locked in. As soon as the toads had captured her, Anne had been thrown into jail, and her backpack confiscated, much to her dismay.

"Listen carefully, creature," Grime growled. "You won't be set free until you give us real answers!" Anne huffed in annoyance, and looked away from him. He growled again and turned to the door, where a toad soldier had just entered.

"We've looked at the box, sir," the toad informed Grime. Anne's heart sped up. Did they have answers? What were they going to do with it? With her?

"Yes?" Grime said, encouraging him to go on. "We know that it's old, sir. Over a thousand years!"

Grime gave the toad a small glare. "That's it?" The toad shrunk down a few inches. "Y-yes."

"Well that doesn't help us at all! Did you do any research?"

"W-we tried our best," the toad said, glancing nervously at the toad captain. Grime snarled and the toad quickly ran out the door. Grime turned back to his prisoner and Anne shuffled back, further away from him.

"I suppose you don't know anything about the box, either?" Anne shook her head. Grime exhaled angrily.

"It doesn't matter," he said, straightening out and looking at her. "You will stay here until you start telling the truth."

"But-"

"Quiet!" Anne shut her mouth. The toad turned and left, slamming the door shut. Anne let out a repressed breath. What am I supposed to do? She thought, bringing out the only thing she had left of home. The photo of her and her two best friends. Her goals had shifted suddenly because of the box. Her goal now was to survive, no matter what.